Archive » November 23, 2006

Letters to the Editor

By MJ Staff

Great Re-Design

I love your new layout, brite-white paper, and cohesive design. As a matter of fact, I can truly say, "It's hot!"

What I mean: I was in L.A. last week having dinner and happily reading the new Journal. I got so entranced that when a candle on the table lit the paper on fire I failed to notice...but the rest of the restaurant did so the Journal (and me) got lots of attention! Now you can add to your accolades "The Montecito Journal sets Brentwood on fire!"

Good job Journal, it's great! Keep up the good work and kudos from your friend with spark!

J'Amy Brown

Montecito

(Publisher’s Note: Thanks J’Amy. We worked around the clock to come up with the new layout. We would like to thank Christian and Trent from Layout Solutions for putting in the extra time to create our new design. – TLB)

Congrats on Weekly

Congratulations on the new format and the weekly news of Montecito! The front page was the best, news about the re-opening of the village gas station...at last!

Thank you for getting the paper folded properly in half now. It was an uncomfortable read before.

A suggestion for the movie page...please list the delightfully renovated, clean and comfortable Plaza theatre in Carpinteria! Also the Plaza de Oro on Hitchcock Way. They are part of the Metropolitan chain also.

Thanks,

Lee Luria

Montecito

(Publisher’s Note: The paper is sometimes folded differently due to inserts. In order for the printing press to include an insert, the paper must be longer on one side. As for the movie theatres, thank you for noticing; we don’t know why those theatres were excluded, but we will try to make sure all Metropolitan theatres are in our movie guide. – TLB)

Los Padres National
Forest Rules and Regs

The Los Padres Forest does indeed have rules pertaining to dogs as follows "On the Trail, if you bring your dog hiking, keep it under verbal or physical restraint at all times.” In other words, if you don't have your dog on leash, have consideration for others and have your animal under control. If you don't, leave your beast at home.

As far as your satirical remark on guns, you obviously have little knowledge of gun laws or you wouldn't spout out comments like this, which are completely untrue.

An 18-year-old Los Olivos resident was legally able to shoot himself in the groin at the Arroyo Burro target range on Camino Cielo last week. In California, you are legally allowed to take a firearm camping, hunting, target shooting, any time on private property, etc, the list goes on. Just where do you want to carry your gun?

Firearms must not be discharged from a road, across a road, across a body of water, or within 150 yards of a campground or inhabited area. Most land in Los Padres National Forest is open to hunting, however, discharge of firearms is prohibited in some areas. Contact the appropriate Ranger District office for information on specific areas.

Good hunting,

Art Gaspar

Montecito

(Publisher’s Note: We apologize for the mix-up. We are aware of the current gun laws and understand we are allowed to carry a firearm in Los Padres National Forest. Be sure to contact your local Ranger to get more information because many areas prohibit discharging of firearms (populated camping areas, game reserves and other regulated areas). Although you can carry, we don’t recommend doing so unless you are properly trained and/or a licensed hunter. – TLB)

Housing Continued…

I like your analogy (“Letters to the Editor” www.montecitojournal.net/archive/12/24/489/). Should boat-ownership ever be protected under our Constitution I'll write Santa to get you one. It is apparent that you see things your way, as I do mine. Where we do agree is that "...freedom from discrimination is guaranteed." That is one of the reasons Fair Housing is protected under the Civil Rights Act.

It is all too easy to use a bias as good reason to exclude another. Montecito has an all too recent history that has long denied housing to many groups. If you are comfortable not to build Affordable Housing, don't. But, you do see how others might view your interference as discrimination against the “poor”?

Thank you for provoking me out of my complacency. I am now determined to create some non-profit special needs housing myself. I hadn't thought about placing it in Montecito, but if one of your readers has a property and is looking for a good use, I have a few ideas.

Karen Friedman

Carpinteria

(Publisher’s Note: Wouldn’t removal of luxury homes to make room for affordable housing discriminate against people who can afford to purchase a home? Discrimination is a loaded word because no matter how it’s used, it can always be spun by both sides. I would be more comfortable with affordable housing if it were about necessity. People who need homes don’t need to live in Montecito, they just need a home. Why is it so offensive to make use of less desirable land to create homes for people who need housing. If a home is truly what they need, then location (assuming it’s relatively close to where they work) shouldn’t be a factor. Also “poor” people must be identified correctly. People making $150,000 a year should not be eligible for taxpayer-subsidized, or as you call it, Affordable Housing. – TLB)

Measure K Defeated

Thanks to the common sense of the Montecito voters Measure K – the Cold Spring School bond, which would have imposed 25 years of new taxes on homeowners – was rejected.

Citizens be aware! This same group will probably try to push the same tax initiative again in 2008. Hold on to your wallets, and be prepared to “Just Say No” again.

To those parents who may want to push a new tax initiative in 2008 – “take a deep breath,” and realize that by the time any new bond construction would be completed (2012) many of the children will have moved on to high school or be in their final years at Cold Spring School. They will have lived through all the construction-related disruption, they will not see any of the benefits, and they will be burdened with the taxes for 25 years. If you feel that you must “support the children” – instead of trying to force new taxes on your neighbors who have fairly voted against new taxes, why not donate your time and money for more private fundraisers for the school. It should be tax-deductible, but first consult with your accountant.

To those voters who have moved here in the past 10 years, you are probably already paying disproportionate property taxes to support Cold Spring School. Many homes that have passed from generation to generation are paying only a fraction of what you are paying. If a new school measure were passed, you would again be required to pay many times the amount that many of your neighbors will pay.

The only way for any new school bond to be fair and equitable would be if it were a “straight parcel tax” that everyone would pay for equally, whether you have lived here a long time or have moved here recently and whether you are rich or richer.

Finally to the new school board, I have spoken to voters and there is a big difference between money needed to make necessary building and safety repairs and money that you want to construct “new” buildings and “main offices” for the staff.

According to UCSB’s 2006 Santa Barbara Economics Outlook, they are forecasting a “larger-than-typical” decline in the number of small children in the county due to high home prices and a decline in the 35-50-year age bracket. In fact, Carpinteria is already closing Main School due to the lack of enrollment.

Also the new board must enforce the policy of only accepting children who reside in the school district.

Stop spending taxpayers’ time and money on architectural plans, legal fees, and campaign-related projects; surely there is a better use for this money and staff time.

David Straus

Montecito

Adopt a Rooster

Your articles are just wonderful! (“For Pet’s Sake” by Karen Lee Stevens MJ #12/2) Thanks for taking so much time and effort to help out with animals. It takes a great heart to understand their love. Since you did my article, I have adopted many new birds (roosters mainly of course) and have received some small donations. I still enjoy the birds and still haven't the heart to say no and probably never will! I still love them all!

Take care Karen,

Sandy Coupal

Submitted via www.montecitojournal.net

OK, Here's the Plan

Back off and let those men who want to marry men, marry men.

Allow those women who want to marry women, marry women.

Allow those folks who want to abort their babies, abort their babies.

In three generations, there will be no Democrats!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Carol Hoffine

Santa Barbara

(Publisher’s Note: Isn’t that a little harsh? If there were no Democrats, there would be no Al Gore. Without Al Gore we wouldn’t have the Internet or the SUV. – TLB)

Liberal and Progressive

Sound good, don’t they? The kind of folks you’d like to know. They wouldn’t be hard-nosed. They would be open, sharing, not racist or bigoted. But, Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts is now calling for Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who are members of what he calls “the global warming denial industry.” Conviction at Nuremberg meant “death by hanging.” Would a staff writer of a national publication speak that carelessly or is he serious?

How would these people deal with Dr. Roy W. Spencer, NASA senior scientist for climate studies who wrote: “I contend that the physics contained in current General Circulation Models (GCM’s) are still insufficient to have much confidence in their predicted magnitude of global warming. There are several reasons for this uncertainty, some of which include: 1) the radiative perturbation due to an anthropogenic doubling of carbon dioxide is small, about 1% of the Earth’s natural cooling rate; 2) naturally occurring water vapor is a far more important greenhouse gas than is carbon dioxide, and it varies considerably in space and time.”

It is the variability of water vapor that caused it to be ignored for well over 100 years in atmospheric physics. This is the greatest blunder ever done by the guys in the white lab coats, but they are owning up to it now. If you input “water vapor and global warming” to Google, you will not only get the full statement by Dr. Spencer, but 95,599 similar papers and sites documenting the importance of water vapor in atmospheric heating.

Note Dr. Spencer gives 1% of the heating effect to carbon dioxide, CO2 thus 99% to water vapor. Are we to ruin our economy to reduce a factor that is utterly insignificant?

Dr. Spencer is a NASA scientist.

More importantly, this shows how the “liberal left” deals with dissent. If you join their organizations or enterprises and dare to differ with facts and scientific arguments they will be polite for a while, but find some way to get you out, key your car finish, slash your tires, write your name and number on washroom walls, protest your writings, call your employer with wild charges, and you in the middle of the night, including death threats. Never forget the Nazis were the National Socialists of Germany and they acted much the same way as “Grist’s” David Roberts.